Honours are in our own hands
Just a few letters after your name, that's all it is. Why, you can buy that sort of thing over the Internet through a mail-order firm in the USA. What's all the fuss about?
It's New Year Honours time and once again, among those who care about this sort of thing, there will be the usual cry that the hospitality, catering and tourism sector has been largely ignored.
But this year the outrage could be regarded as little more than a typical wail of self-pity because, in reality, the industry hasn't done badly at all. There are, arguably, 18 representatives from a wide range of occupations in the sector plus a couple on the overseas list. Oh, and one of hospitality's ex-favourite sons, Charles Allen, also gets a gong for chairing the company that brought us the Commonwealth Games in Manchester - and that certainly boosted tourism.
All in all, it's not a bad showing. A quick scan of the complete list (there are 976 names) reveals that, apart from the civil service - for which the whole honours scheme was started in the first place - and education, no other industry appears to be better represented.
And it does matter. It isn't just about a few letters after a name. It's public acknowledgement of a job well done. When you consider that less than 0.002% of the UK population receive an award like this annually, it's a significant achievement.
The fact that this year there are double the number of recipients from hospitality than there were last year proves (in part) that the sector continues to attract government and public attention.
Perhaps you think 18 is still not a good enough number. Well, another lesson can be learned here. How do you think the people winning honours are selected? They're nominated, that's how; nominated confidentially by colleagues, friends and associates.
If hospitality, catering and tourism never fare particularly well in the honours list it could be because hospitality, catering and tourism people don't know how to shout about their achievements.
It's the old story: we would much rather hide beneath a bushel than do anything as gross as make a fuss selling and marketing our industry.
It's the same with Caterer & Hotelkeeper Awards. The success of the Cateys relies on candidates for each award being nominated by the industry. This copy of Caterer carries the 2003 Cateys Nominations brochure. It's time to get writing. If we don't tell the world what's good about ourselves, we can't complain when the world ignores us.
Congratulations to Bob Cotton (he received a Catey before he was appointed OBE, by the way), Geoffrey Podger, David Quarmby, Naomi Arnold et al. Letters after your name do mean something - not just for you but for all of us.
FORBES MUTCH, Editor, Caterer & Hotelkeeper
